I guess that's ok This is weird, but I guess we could get used to it An octave is diminished 8!?!? Now, to avoid the issues from before, we'll put P4 on the most stable Back on track. See, isn't this nice? Aaaaand back to an octave on P8 sigh of relief.
Another interesting feature of the system we use is symmetry. The axis of non-perfect intervals is half way between Major and minor so, when flipped over the root, Major becomes minor and minor becomes Major i. The axis of Perfect intervals, however, is on the Perfect itself so flipping a perfect over the root gives another perfect i. Aug and dim intervals also flip with each other regardless of whether their midpoint is on a Perfect or between Major and minor. Inverted Intervals. Sign up to join this community.
The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. What makes an interval "Perfect"? Ask Question. Asked 7 years, 3 months ago. Active 1 year, 11 months ago.
Viewed 31k times. Is there a solid definition of perfect intervals, lying around somewhere I just can't find? Improve this question. Resonance among the natural harmonics of the two tones in the interval.
Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. My answer builds on the answer contributed by DR6. Improve this answer. You're completely correct. The point I was trying to make was that the Pythagoreans recognized superparticular ratios as being consonant but did not extend this principle beyond the fourth harmonic. This goes back to what I was saying about modern Western music "inheriting" the idea of the consonance of , , and , from Pythagoras as a fixed state that tuning systems were to achieve.
The major third is off by 14 cents from the 5-limit major third in tet but nobody really seems to notice unless they have been exposed to Just Intonation for long enough. Just my speculation though. When it can't, there's a tendency to withdraw. For example, when an orchestra is playing a piece in such a way that the parts aren't quite together, or if the acoustics are such that different parts hit the ear at different times, there's a greater tendency for the audience to fall asleep.
I suspect that tuning variances in intervals are resolved in the brain to their most consonant value. I suspect that this process is innate, also. Athanasius I wrote this answer a long time ago when I was doing more reading in this area.
I didn't mention this in my answer but my understanding was that the Greek ideas were resurfaced during the Renaissance and the English names appeared after that as a carry over.
This does not necessarily reflect the prevailing attitude about consonance prior to this i. I think my answer could be significantly improved with some references so I'll take a look and see what I can find.
I would be interested in anything you guys find as well. Show 6 more comments. So perfect intervals are those which are so consonant that they don't add any harmony. Note: edited for clarity due to a number of comments asking for clarification.
Grey Grey 3, 1 1 gold badge 15 15 silver badges 35 35 bronze badges. A harmony is when you combine two or more notes and they create a sound that none of the notes could have had by itself. If your first note is "C", adding the octave "C" or the perfect fifth "G" doesn't really create any harmony.
But adding an "E" and an "A" to the "C" would add quite a bit of harmony. That's because those notes are not "C", and not "G" which as I mentioned is already contained inside of the C.
I think I might understand. But you say "whenever anyone plays a C, they're also playing a G, because physics. I think you're convoluting interval names and dissonance. There is nothing wrong with the term "perfect fourth". This is simply a fourth that is neither augmented nor diminished. Whether that is considered dissonance or consonance is simply another matter. Anthony It can. But most other notes would fall outside of your own ability to hear.
The G is audible. Grey your statement that there are only two kinds of perfect interval is simply not correct. Perfect, minor, major, augmented, diminished: it is just a matter of nomenclature.
An interval is a perfect fourth when you can count 4 staff positions starting from the lower and up to and including the upper note that make up the interval and when the number of semi-tones between those notes is 5. No need to complicate matters by talking about consonance or "inheriting" something from its complementary interval. Show 9 more comments. Perfect intervals are the ones that don't have two forms: major and minor.
The rules seem to have been man-made. A second the D is the same note in major and minor, just like the 4th and 5th. All three are present in both major and minor keys, so it seems to me , illogical to say that a 2nd can be major or minor, especially when a minor 2nd doesn't appear in a minor key! Yes, it's all technicality, but seems artificial. What do you think? The rules are very much man-made.
The consonances and resonances appear to exist in nature apart from human participation, but music is largely a construct of the mind interpreting the sounds it hears, and music theory tries to describe this after-the-fact. So the artificiality is rather par for the course. The Major scale is composed of all major intervals, but the Minor scale is not all minor, that is the Phrygian mode.
It always makes me smile that a minor 6th chord has a major 6th in it Tim, by minor sixth chord, do you mean the first inversion of a minor triad? I don't have any issue with that. The precedence is the kind of triad major, minor, diminished and then the inversion - sixth being first inversion. That said there seem to be a lot of different chord naming schemes, and even more system to denote them.
A minor triad with an added major 6th. I'm not using classical inversion notation. Tim Tim k 14 14 gold badges silver badges bronze badges. Ugh, I keep finding this a little unsatisfactory. First, it depends on our definition of major and minor- which I suppose is fine, although I'm not sure how to make that definition un-arbitrary.
Second, it doesn't seem enlightening in any way to me, as to why we called it a perfect- why is this invariance under inversion such a good quality? Don't forget the Tritone, which is the same even when inverted. I still have no idea why that is perfect. Basically, it's the fact that it doesn't change when it is in major. It doesn't even have to be in the major scale. It still is the same in minor. Learn to recognize intervals through both sight and sound. Learn music intervals in a fun and engaging way through these coloring pages.
After identifying and coloring each interval, a unique geometric design appears. Use these flash cards to practice learning and memorizing music intervals on the grand staff.
It includes intervals of a 2nd through an octave. They are best for piano students. This foldable 8x10 inch music theory cheat sheet is an excellent quick reference guide when you need to find the answer fast. The side 3-hole punch allows you to keep it in a 3-ring binder. It is sturdy and folds out featuring music theory and notation on the front and music history on the back.
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A great reference guide for all musicians at any level of music study. Thank you so much for such an informative little article. Thank you for a concise explanation of the perfect interval in your article. The topic came up in a piano lesson with a student. The perfect octave of concert A Hz rings at Hz — exactly two vibrations for every one vibration of the root tone.
The perfect fourth rings at very close to Hz — one and one third vibrations for every one of the root tone. And the perfect fifth rings at very close to Hz — one and one half vibrations for every one of the root tone. I think when our ears hear these perfect intervals our brains neatly slot the faster vibrations in between the slower ones, tidily filling up the gaps, like completing a jigsaw.
None of the other intervals have anywhere near such tidy ratios to the root tone, so they jar to some degree, like a jigsaw with missing or extra pieces. What happened to the 7th in the sentence I quoted? U are simply genius the way u explained it was very different.. Thank you.. Thank you for this simple explanation.
Why is it perfect? Demystified it for me you did. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. If we were to continue this pattern further it would emphasize all the pitches of a chromatic scale. Rich showed me how he deals with the range by instead utilizing a rhythmic pattern of 3 plus 2.
Playing the perfect fourths pattern in this way ends up emphasizing the same chromatic scale sound, but also emphasizes an additional pitch in the pattern. Isolating just those pitches creates a rising minor third followed by a descending major second.
Reorganizing those pitches so that they just ascend ends up creating a diminished scale half step, whole step, half step, whole step, etc. Flipping the pattern to 2 plus 3 similarly will bring out the pitches of a diminished scale, but instead with a descending interval of a major second followed by the ascending minor third C, Bb, Db, B, D, C, Eb, Db, E. By now the concept of playing the exacts same pitches, but changing the direction of the line in different rhythmic patterns should be clear enough to suggest further ideas for exploration, including mixing up some of the above patterns into the same line.
There are lots of different approaches to how to effectively use intervals like the perfect fourth in a musical and expressive way. Try playing around with these patterns for a bit and see what you think. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Proudly powered by WordPress.
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